This invention relates to a nitrite-free method of curing bacon and to the bacon thus produced
The curing process of this invention employs acetic acid in the curing solution. The use of acetic acid to protec meats against spoilage is conventional and well known See, e.g., U.S. Ser. Nos. 125,102; 642,221; 680,374; 909,172; 2,383,907; 3,328,178; 3,380,833; and 3,934,044. I also reported that acetic acid could replace nitrites in the curing of bacon and hams. See Meat Plant Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 10, 36 (May, 1979). Tanaka et al., J. Food Protection, 43, No. 6, pp. 450-457 (1980), report the use of lactic acid bacteria and a source of carbohydrate to inhibit the growth of Clostridium botulinum in no nitrite-added bacon at ambient temperatures. The authors cite references in support of their statement that botulinal toxin formation is influenced by pH, water activity, salt, nitrite, inoculum level and temperature. They report that in their experiments a rapid drop in pH, rather than nitrite concentration, appeared to influence botulinal toxin development.
Although acetic acid does, by lowering the pH, reduce the rate of bacterial growth on meats, acetic acid alone does not, at concentrations which do not impart an objectionable sour flavor to the meat, inhibit such growth sufficiently to meet the Department of Agriculture test for antibotulinal control in bacon, which involves injecting a spore suspension containing type A and B strains of Clostridium botulinum into bacon, incubating the bacon in a vacuum sealed package at 30.degree. C. and then periodically testing the bacon for toxicity. Therefore, although an acceptably tasting cured bacon can be produced with acetic acid, nitrite-free smoke curing of bacon commercially with acetic acid alone is not possible under existing government regulations.
In addition to acetic acid, this invention also employs glycerine as a vital ingredient of the curing solution. Under Sec. 182.1320 of the FDA regulations, glycerine is listed as a multiple purpose GRAS compound by the Food and Drug Administration. It is commonly used in small amounts as a humectant in a variety of foodstuffs. Wickersheimer, U.S. Ser. No. 236,521, discloses the use of a mixture of salicyclic acid, methyl alcohol, glycerine and various salts, viz., potash, salt and alum, with alum being the chief ingredient, to preserve meat by injecting into the body of the animal prior to or shortly after slaughter and before evisceration.